GypsyWings

04/26/2026

Kentucky Agate, Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Show

Kentucky Agate, the “gem of the hills”, will be again be a main focus at the 17th annual Agate, Gem, & Mineral Show. The agate is prized by collectors world-wide for its bright red bands and other spectacular colors and is only found in Estill and a few other surrounding counties. Agate became Kentucky’s official state gemstone by the Kentucky legislature in 2024. Agates will be for sale in several forms from slabs to jewelry revealing the hidden beauty.
Other features of the show include mineral specimen sales, fossil sales, petrified wood, demonstrations, and jewelry showing artwork from rocks and minerals. Much of the jewelry includes skills of the crafter from wire wrapping, silversmithing, faceting, to carving. Lapidary skills of the vendors show how slabs have been cut from rock, shaped and polished cabochons, and other stone-working skills. The Southeast KY Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Club is the assisting organization.
The show will be at the Central Office gym of the Estill County Public Schools, 253 Main St., Irvine. Enter at the back of the building. Hours for the show will be: Sat., April 25, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Sun., April 26 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission is free.
Participants in the show are:

1. Nick Allen – natural crystals from the U.S. and the Middle East including American minerals
2. Matthew Bentley – KY Agate
3. Tony Bradley - fossils
4. Sandi Brandl – cut stones, jewelry, fossils, demonstrate wire wrapping
5. Dale Burton – minerals, fossils, agates, hobby related items
6. Lexi Crouse – polished crystals, jewelry, beads, specimens, carvings
7. David Davis – KY agate
8. William Durbin – specimens, slabs
9. Eli Eaton – KY agate specimens and jewelry
10. Christa Engelhardt – rock rough, slabs, polished cabochons, fossilized coral specimens
11. Donna Estep – rocks, minerals, carvings, crystals, jewelry
12. Jerry Flynn – KY agate jewelry
13. Aaron Gandee – crystals, specimens, fossils, handmade jewelry
14. Adam Gould – agate jewelry
15. Dan Gray – mineral specimens, slabs, spheres, cabochons, polished items, fossils, mystery bags
16. Lori McAllister - gemstone jewelry, stone based décor
17. Wathena McKinney – jewelry
18. Albert Mooney - jewelry, rocks
19. Robert Morgan - hand crafted sterling silver and 14 kt. Jewelry, gold fill wire, specimens, slabs
20. Rebecca Perraut and Corey Perraut– KY Agate silver set jewelry
21. Taylor Pfanstiel - Tumbles, cut/polish agate
22. John/Kendra Powell – KY agate jewelry
23. Nic Scogna – amber, calcite, fluorite, quartz specimens, polished gemstones, minerals, gemstones
24. Larry Smith – Kentucky agate
25. Tim Smith – minerals, jewelry
26. Logan Sparks – agates, rocks, slabs
27. Alesia Stevenson – rough & tumbles gems, gemstone jewelry, and fossils
28. William Todd – rocks, slabs, minerals
29. Jennifer Tudor – artisan gemstone created bracelets, earrings, necklaces
30. Southeast KY Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Club – club t-shirts, Rock & Gem magazines, slabs

04/23/2026

A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found results that align with a growing body of research suggesting a link between solar and geomagnetic activity and changes in the human nervous system.

For a long time, scientists have recognized that all living systems on Earth exist within a constant field of invisible electromagnetic influences, spanning a wide range of frequencies. These fields can interact with biological processes, sometimes in subtle ways. In fact, several physiological rhythms appear to be synchronized with solar cycles and geomagnetic fluctuations.

The study highlights that while the human body is built to adapt to regular daily and seasonal shifts, more intense disturbances, like geomagnetic storms, can place stress on our regulatory systems. These disruptions have been associated with shifts in melatonin and serotonin levels, changes in blood pressure, impacts on immune and cardiovascular function, and even neurological effects.

How much of our health is influenced by forces we rarely think about?

The research also points out that during peaks in solar activity, which occur roughly every 11 years, the sun releases higher levels of ultraviolet radiation and radio emissions. While the exact biological mechanisms aren’t fully understood, there is growing evidence that these solar and magnetic changes can affect human behavior and physiology, particularly the cardiovascular and nervous systems.

In this study, ten healthy participants between the ages of 34 and 65 had their heart rate variability tracked over 31 days. The findings suggested that the autonomic nervous system doesn’t just react to geomagnetic changes, it may actually synchronize with them, including natural resonant frequencies like Schumann resonances.

Researchers propose that this could happen through a kind of resonance between human biological rhythms and the Earth’s electromagnetic environment.

Follow-up research involving over 100 participants across multiple countries appears to support these findings, suggesting that human heart rhythms may not only align with these environmental patterns but also show signs of synchronization on a global scale.

It’s a fascinating area of study, and a reminder that our connection to the environment runs deeper than we typically imagine.

Study link in comments.

03/17/2026

02/17/2026

02/13/2026

At this point
I believe it is only women’s rage
that will save this world.

Not politeness.
Not panels.
Not carefully worded statements
filed between coffee breaks.

Rage, fire, burning anger

This isn’t posturing.
Not sympathy dressed up as virtue.
Not me angling to be one of the “good ones.”
I’m not polishing my reflection here.

I am the problem
standing still long enough to admit it.

If I could lay my damn head on a platter
and it would spare my daughter
the quiet dread every woman learns to carry
like keys between her fingers,
like a smile that means survive,
then take it.
Take the damn thing and be done with it

Take it clean, take it dirty, take it raw when I’m least expecting.

Because I am so tired
of men saying, “well what about me?”

I am that man

The one who was lazy in love.
Lazy in agency.
Lazy in allyship.

The one who mistook not being cruel
for being good.

How many times did I shrink from confrontation?
How many jokes did I let slide
because it was easier to laugh
than to rupture the room?

How often did I live comfortably
off a world that did not bruise me
and call that peace?

Cowardice has a soft voice.
It says, it doesn’t concern you.
It says, it’s complicated.
It says, you’ll lose friends.

And I listened.

I was not enraged.
Not frothing.
Not trembling with the kind of fury
that breaks tables
instead of daughters.

I let what was
remain what is
because it did not press its thumb
into my throat.

But it will press into hers.
God I am so sorry for not being brutal against this beast that will take her someday.

One day she will walk through
the narrow corridor of “acceptable behavior,”
lined with men who mean no harm
and still cause it.

She will learn the map of danger
we refuse to redraw.

And what will I give her then?

An apology?

A history lesson?

My bloody hands held out
as if confession can cauterize a wound?

So tell me….

Do I offer my head now,
while it still costs me something,

or wait
until I am kneeling beside her grief
trying to barter with regret?

At this point
I believe it is only women’s rage
that will save this world.

And maybe
if men can learn to stand inside that fire
without asking for comfort,
without asking to be centered,
without asking to be forgiven,

then maybe
we will finally deserve
to survive it.

I pray…. Or one day I will with bloody hands and it will be too late.
~ Langston~ Thank you

Archaeology for the Woman's Soul

12/30/2025

A New Year's Blessing

May this new year unfold with light and promise.
May your body feel strong, your mind feel clear
and your heart remain open to possibility.

May you awaken with purpose in your breath
and rest at night knowing you did enough.

May opportunity meet your effort,
patience walk beside ambition,
and challenges sharpen you
without ever hardening you.

May laughter arrive often and stay awhile.
May love, old and new, grow deeper, truer.

May you give freely without losing yourself,
and receive fully, without hesitation.

And when the road bends without warning,
may you trust the strength you’ve earned
and the wisdom you carry to guide you.

May this be a year of steady growth,
honest joy, and gentle courage,
a future that feels not only hopeful,
but open and welcoming too.

~ 'A New Year's Blessing' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Olya Haydamaka

11/11/2025

There has been increased solar activity over the last few days, with two Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) emitted that are being directed towards Earth.

In this picture, you can see one of the solar flares that occurred yesterday.

What is a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)?
CMEs are large and sudden clouds of high energy plasma that are expelled from the Sun, often associated with a solar flare, that overcome the pull of the Sun's gravitational field and interact with the Earth's magnetic field.

These particles can collide with the gases in our atmosphere to bring a show of lights in our skies at night – the aurora.

G4 geomagnetic storm conditions are forecast on Wednesday, with two CMEs forecast to reach Earth within close proximity.

If forecast conditions eventuate, aurora sightings may be possible at unusually low latitudes, including dark sky locations near Sydney or Perth.

To view the auroras, you ideally need a dark night with little cloud cover and an unobstructed view to our south.

For the latest space weather information and forecasts visit www.sws.bom.gov.au

11/01/2025

“I had my own notion of grief.
I thought it was the sad time
That followed the death of someone you love.
And you had to push through it
To get to the other side.
But I'm learning there is no other side.
There is no pushing through.
But rather,
There is absorption.
Adjustment.
Acceptance.
And grief is not something you complete,
But rather, you endure.
Grief is not a task to finish
And move on,
But an element of yourself,
An alteration of your being.
A new way of seeing.
A new definition of self.”

~ Gwen Flowers

Art: Alexandra Dvornikova
on Instagram

10/26/2025

Art | Anna Ancher

09/26/2025

It’s here!🥩 Meat Me in Paris - Night Market is TONIGHT. Don’t miss our sampler menu featuring six proteins, Ale-8-One floats, live music, craft beer & entertainment for the family.